A man named … What?!

I went to the bank on Thursday to put a cheque in, and the guy serving me was called Mo. He had, however, put his name tag on upside down, so it instead said 'Ow.' I found this inexplicably hilarious, which is just as well because he took a freakin' age to actually deposit the money for me.

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In other, non-financial related matters, I've had a rather good, if ridiculously busy week. Throughout it all, though, I've managed to maintain my yoga schedule three times a week, and I think it's fair to say I'm pretty much addicted. I can feel the effect it's having on me every time I leave class - at least I think it's the yoga that makes me feel euphoric and awesome; I suppose they could be burning some funny incense or something. Anyway, the last three classes I've done have been particularly brilliant, because I've pushed myself in different ways in each class.

On Thursday I managed to do Tree pose (or tadasana if you want to use the correct lingo) with both hands in prayer for the first time, which made me feel very smug pleased because it's incredibly difficult in Bikram yoga as you're all sweaty so your leg tends to slide away from your thigh.

At the weekend I do the early morning classes at 9:00 AM, and on Saturday I thought I might take it just a little bit easier than I normally do (subconsciously, I might add). Someone else had other ideas, however. When I was in the Balancing Stick pose (Tulandandasana), I noticed that the teacher was wandering around down the end of the studio where I was positioned. Next thing I know he's standing right behind me saying "C'mon Tim - hold that arm up and stretch that leg further, further, further, FURTHER!!" And he was, of course, wearing a radio mike so this was broadcast to the entire class. My embarrassment soon subsided, though, because I did exactly what I was told to (I was maybe just a little bit frightened), and felt all the better for it when he finally said "relax."

And today, good times, I finally managed to do a complete Camel pose (Ustrasan) - and before you ask, no that's not the pose where you get the hump (ha - geddit?) and storm out of class; it's the one where you kneel down, lean back, and grab your angles. Basically it looks a bit like your body is doing something it really shouldn't be doing. Anyway, usually I just kneel there and lean back a bit because I'm understandably a bit nervous about my back at the mo'. Today, though, I felt a bit reckless and just decided to go for it - so I did, and it was amazing.

I'm hearting yoga so much at the moment.

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I'm pretty sure yoga's having a positive effect outside of making me super-flexible and awesomely buff. After Thursday's class, y'see, I got home and had a shower. As I turned the shower off I heard a pinging noise, then the knob went loose. Um, that's the shower knob, not anything else. Anyway, I tried to turn the shower back on, but it didn't work - at which point I'd normally let loose a tirade of naughty words. This time, though, I just thought 'oh, that'll need fixing.' And then I noticed that some paintwork in the bathroom had come away, and I thought 'oh, that'll need touching-up' (oo-er!).

Anyway, the gist of it is, is that I appear to be supremely chillaxed. I bought some paint on the way home from class on Saturday and did the first coat of paint. Then today I did the second coat of paint after getting home from class again. And both times after that I had a bath, all the while being careful not to flash my gentlemanly parts to the outside world as the window was a few inches open to help the paint dry. I believe I was successful on both occasions.

To top it off, on Father's Day of all days, Sparky Pa just popped over and miraculously fixed my shower. In all honesty, it just needed a little bit of plastic clipped back in place, but unlike Sparky Pa and Big Bro my brain isn't wired particularly well for engineering. On the other hand, I'm guessing I'm the only member of the family that can do Eagle pose (Garurasana) without falling over.